Strings Within the Shadows
by Sonick47
Summary: This story takes place after Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, and uses elements from both games to create a deep, complex story. Don't expect anything while reading this.
1. Angel Island

"He was what he was: a brave and heroic hedgehog, who gave his life to save this planet. Shadow the Hedgehog." - Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Adventure 2).  
  
Strings Within the Shadows - The Continuation of the Sonic Adventure Series.   
By Sonic47

  
Chapter One: Angel Island

Knuckles had been fast asleep a few feet from the Master Emerald. A booming noise awoke him. He got up and tensely looked around himself. The Master Emerald was still safely behind him, atop the ancient staircase. There was a light but bone-chilling wind in the dark night. Knuckles saw nothing, and could see only what the bright emerald shined a foot around it. He then heard it - footsteps walking up the stairway behind him.  
"I'm sorry, did my hovercraft landing system awaken you?" a soft and friendly, yet dark voice chirped from the darkness.   
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?! Trespassers are not allowed here!" Knuckles growled as he ran over to the voice.  
"You have a lot more to worry about than me," the voice said. Knuckles continued to search for the holder of the voice in the darkness.   
"Show yourself! Enough hiding in the shadows!" Knuckles yelled.  
"Look!" the voice said. Knuckles looked behind himself, shocked at what he saw. Thousands of lights were inching their way towards the floating island. They were far away in distance, but appeared to be coming at a mighty speed.  
"Must only be one of Eggman's flying fortresses!" Knuckles exclaimed angrily.  
"Not just one though, echidna. Or two. There are three," the voice laughed. "But I'm afraid you won't get to witness the destruction and capture of your island."  
"WHAT?!?" Knuckles let out. "No way this island will fall with me here!!"  
"How ironic... that the last of the echidnas, guarding the Master Emerald his whole life, gets sealed within it. Farewell," the voice snickered as flashing red balls of light flew at Knuckles from the shadows, and enveloped him in darkness as he yelled from the pain. The Master Emerald glowed for a brief moment, and Knuckles was gone.  
  
"Tails, you haven't been sleeping... or eating. I only came by to visit, but this doesn't look good, old buddy," Sonic said, watching from below as Tails worked earnestly at yet another new plane of his, this one dubbed the Typhoon. Tails, blue eyes wide open, continued to work in his Mystic Ruins workshop.  
"Look... I'll go buy some breakfast for ya. You like flapjacks don't you?" Sonic questioned.  
"I'm working on the Typhoon. I'll be done with it soon," Tails replied numbly. Sonic walked out of the workshop, worried for his friend.   
"Maybe he's worried about Knuckles. I know I am too, but to me it seems what Tails has been doing is crazy..." Sonic thought. "Still no news of that echidna though. It's gotta be Eggman who did this... It can't be anyone else. The whole flying fortress thing just fits the bill. But to actually succeed? To actually take the time to make not one, but three of those things? He must've gotten help... Gotta find him. Gotta get to Angel Island. But Tails is so intent on finishing that new plane first. Why?" Sonic continued in his head. He arrived at Station Square, bought some breakfast, and took a train back to the Mystic Ruins. To his unfortunate surprise, Amy was on that very train.  
"Sonic? That is you! Hey Sonic!" Amy said, walking down the aisle over to Sonic.

"Oh no..." Sonic mumbled, holding the bag of food.  
"Hey, when did you get here to Station Square?" Amy asked, sitting down next to Sonic.  
"Uh, yesterday I got to the Mystic Ruins," Sonic explained briefly.  
"Oh good, I haven't missed much yet then! So what brings you here? You've been to Tails' already then? Is Eggman up to no good? You've missed me?" Amy talked cheerfully.  
"Yeah - I mean," Sonic began, confused by all the questions.  
"I knew it! You do care!" Amy smiled.  
"No... ugh. I met with Tails, and I think Eggman's up to no good of course, with the whole thing on Angel Island," Sonic said.  
"That was sad to see the island all destroyed like that on the news... Think Knuckles is okay?" Amy asked.  
"Pfft... Knuckles? He can outlive a rock," Sonic force a laugh.  
"Are we all going on another adventure then?" Amy asked.  
"I don't know. Tails has been acting weird since I arrived. That's why I got breakfast for him," Sonic explained, holding the bag of food up. The train stopped at the Mystic Ruins.  
"I'll come with you to see him," Amy said as Sonic got up to exit. Without getting a reply, Amy followed Sonic out and the two walked down the wooden stairway, across the grassy hill and up the stone stairways up to Tails' workshop.  
"Hey Tails! Got you... breakfast?" Sonic asked, surprised to not see Tails there. The plane he was working on still was though. Suddenly Tails flew in, grabbed the bag of food and went back to working on the plane, eating as he went. Sonic shook his head sadly, as Amy watched Tails in complete confusion.  


"Hurry up! Everyone's going to wake up soon!" a human yelled down to his co-conspirator chameleon as the chameleon dropped down a couple bags of money to him. "All right, that's enough! Let's blow this taco stand!" The chameleon climbed out of the hole in the brick and metal walls of the bank and jumped into the truck the human started up. It was then someone else arrived at the scene.  
"Don't worry Maria... these two won't escape without punishment for the evil acts they have done," a black and red hedgehog stated aloud as he stood in front of the truck.  
"Nice try bozo," the human said as he stepped down on the accelerator, sending the truck soaring towards the Shadow the Hedgehog, who easily jumped over the truck. As the man continued to drive along, Shadow quickly ran up along the side of the truck. The chameleon got out a crossbow and began firing upon Shadow, who easily dodged the arrows while running the same speed. Shadow jumped into the truck, and knocked out the chameleon and the human out cold with a single punch.   
"To the next town to help then," Shadow thought to himself. "For it is my responsibility, obligation, and destiny now to do so - to help all that live on this planet. I only regret that I can't help more, and for the acts I did when I was first released... up until I... died." Shadow stopped thinking at that point and returned the money to the jail, and delivered the culprits to the local prison. After receiving thanks from the human leader of the town, he began his walk to another town, to help the occupants there as he had with the previous towns he passed through.  
  
"Rouge, we have a new assignment for you," human Mayor Julian Vincent told government agent Rouge the Bat.  
"All right then - number of jewels first, then the assignment," Rouge casually stated.  
"Twelve. You surely know of the mysterious attack on Angel Island. You're going there to find out what happened exactly, and who the culprit is. Angel Island is relatively close to here, minus its height of course. Station Square could be next, once again. We've really only barely recovered from the flooding and destruction from the monster Chaos - it'd be a disaster to have it happen again, and so soon," the mayor explained.  
"Twelve? Okay," Rouge said, exiting the office. "See ya," she added before shutting the door.  
"Well..." the mayor thought to himself, "That was simple."  


Eggman looked at one of his many computer monitors. All the screens showed statistics and pictures of large robots he had created, each screen displaying a different robot. Each machine was very different from all the others, minus their massive sizes. Eggman looked upon each creation with glee.   
"Yes... you are all part of my new team to carry out my work," Eggman whispered to himself, or perhaps to the screens themselves. "Though you didn't get a chance to shine at Angel Island, you certainly will soon, my Destruction-series robots," Eggman turned away from the two-dozen screens and opened a book laying down on a control panel. He opened to where he had a bookmark, and began reading where he left off. It was the diary of Gerald Robotnik, Eggman's grandfather.  


"Tails... you've been up there all day!" Amy yelled. Tails didn't note it, and continued to work on the plane. "Sonic already decided to leave and use the Tornado 2 to go himself!!" Tails suddenly stopped. A tear slowly drifted down his left cheek. Tails violently shook his head and tried to get back to work.  
"He's probably fine without me!" Tails said before starting to flatten out a strip of metal with a hammer.  
"Tails..." Amy said sadly, under the noise of Tails' work. Amy knew Sonic would need Tails' help if he was to stop whoever had attacked Angel Island. "I'll stay here until I can get Tails to be himself again... I've got to keep our hope alive," Amy thought and decided.  


Sonic landed the plane at the base of Angel Island's Red Mountain, and hopped out, looking for any signs of Eggman. Sonic heard a slight rustling in a bush up ahead, so he cautiously walked up to it. To his surprise, he saw an orange armadillo that was apparently dying from very serious wounds. Sonic quickly walked over to him and asked if he was okay. The armadillo couldn't answer - he was too weak to do so.  
"Is it really the great Sonic the Hedgehog? Actually taking the time to care for one simple being?" the same voice that spoke to Knuckles, now spoke to Sonic.  
"Who said that?" Sonic asked. "Where are you? Did you do this?" he added, looking around and finding nothing.  
"What if I did? Would you really care? Why don't you try to save him?" the voice casually questioned. Sonic carefully carried the armadillo to the Tornado 2, and tried to set him carefully in the back seat. The armadillo screamed in agonizing pain.  
"It's too bad you couldn't save him. Poor Sonic, actually failing for once in his life," the voice mocked. "Can he bear actually failing? He always saves the day! Sonic never fails! Never!" he went on.  
"SHUT UP!" Sonic yelled, starting the plane. "I'm going to save him!"  
The voice began laughing hysterically, as if hearing those words was a hilarious joke. "SAVE him?! He'll be dead before you get anywhere NEAR medical care! And even then nobody would be able to cure him in time. You lost Sonic! This armadillo died and there was nothing you could do." Sonic looked back at the armadillo - he wasn't moving. Sonic took off in the plane, hoping that the voice was wrong.  


It wasn't. Sonic had taken him to Station Square's hospital, and though it didn't take long to get there the armadillo had already died. Sonic returned to Angel Island, saddened by the event, and angry at the one who set it up. Sonic landed the plane and began calling for the one who killed the armadillo.  
"Quit yelling please," the voice calmly ordered. Sonic searched the area at a rapid speed, trying to find the owner of the voice. "Calm down, Sonic the Hedgehog. I would like you to answer a few questions for me."  
"All right... only if you show yourself to me," Sonic said.  
"Very well... a deal," the voice said. "I will show myself after you answer my questions. First, why is it you keep pestering the Doctor Robotnik?"   
"Eggman? Well I have to keep him in check. If I didn't stop him whenever he was attempting to take over the world, he would have," Sonic plainly explained.  
"Did you ever think that perhaps someone else would've handled it? Did you ever think... that it would be better if the doctor set up a unified government for the world? Wouldn't you think that would make everything run much more smoothly?" the voice questioned.  
"What a bunch of garbage!" Sonic yelled.  
"I figured you wouldn't be open-minded. After all, you're just a pair of running shoes, really - that's the only reason you actually succeed against the genius Robotnik, is with your freakish speed," the voice said. Sonic fumed.  
"Now show yourself!!" Sonic exclaimed.  
"Just a few more questions. Patience, little hedgehog. Now your life has just been perfect, hasn't it? You've got good friends, you get help from everyone you meet, everyone loves you, you're world-famous, you always win, and you never have to worry about anything bad happening... you live a care-free, problem-free, and pain-free life," the voice stated.  
"That's not true!!" Sonic boomed. "You think that things are easy stopping Eggman all the time?!"  
"Of course it's easy for you! You say so yourself all the time. 'That was just too easy!' you mock after defeating Robotnik time after time again. You ruin his plans constantly, mocking the poor doctor, calling him 'Eggman' all the time. You never worry about him killing you or your friends. Do you ever wake up and say to yourself 'I'm going against a powerful mad scientist - I hope my friends don't die today'? No, you don't find Robotnik a threat in any way," the voice went on.  
"You're wrong again... a friend did die," Sonic sadly stated.  
"Just who may that be?" the voice questioned. Sonic was about to say Shadow, but the voice continued, "Do you mean Shadow the Hedgehog? Even in that case, you get off easy - he's alive."  
"Alive?" Sonic asked, surprised.  
"All these months, yes. He was given a second chance on life on this miserable planet. For some unexplainable reason he now goes from town to town, aiding the citizens in them," the voice explained. Sonic was silent for a minute, shocked at the thought of Shadow being alive.  
"So... now do you agree that your life has been easy, with minimal hardships?" the voice asked.  
"You're forgetting my childhood. You don't know what happened to me then... and with my parents," Sonic began.  
"Oh Sonic, I do know. But childhood is such a minor and small part of life - it simply does not count, nor does it make a difference in how easy and painless it's been for you since then," the voice stated.  
"All right... enough! Just show yourself to me now, so I can give you a beating," Sonic fumed.  
"You are dumber than I thought. Did you ever get any schooling?" the voice asked.  
"I went to a Vinidelsci School..." Sonic said.  
"Bwa! Bwa-ha! This just keeps getting better," the voice laughed. "How can a hedgehog, with little skill, little knowledge, and having such a little amount of hardships, become world-famous? This is too amazingly funny! I could kill you so easily, it is comical! This is going to be a great amount of fun..." the voice bellowed.  
"What are you talking about?!?" Sonic screamed.  
"I and the one I work for will destroy this world and create a new and better global empire. But before that we will kill every one of your friends. Every being you know - they'll all be dead soon. And you will get to watch every single one of them die, and you'll get to see cities fall, civilizations die, and species become extinct. And then, you will die as well, knowing that you were a complete and total failure. Farewell! I will see you at the town Rendion, but you won't see me..." the voice ended.  
"Come back here you no-good double-crossing loser!" Sonic yelled before stomping the ground with his fist.  
"Okay, I'm back actually - I have a little lesson to teach you. You felt what it was like to fail today. You couldn't save that armadillo. He died, and unlike Shadow, isn't coming back. Now... you get to feel hopelessness," the voice said as it shot an orange ball of energy towards Sonic's right leg, knocking him to the ground. "I've rendered that leg unusable for the time being. Good luck getting to Rendion in time," the voice finished as Sonic yelled in pain, grasping his right leg tightly. Tears fell from Sonic's face from the terrible pain. Pain that came not just from his leg, but from the death of the nameless armadillo, the thought of losing his friends, and the treacherous threat of this unseen enemy.  


Tails slowly flew down from the plane, eyes gaping open, bloodshot. Tails began to walk over to Amy, his eyes slowly closing. He began to hunch, and then was losing his balance. Amy got up and ran over to Tails, keeping him from falling to the ground.  
"Tails? What's wrong? I think you need to get some sleep - you look terrible..." Amy said as Tails tried to keep his eyes open.  
"I'm... fine. I'm fine. But Eggman - he's... the stakes... stakes higher... they're higher... I must. I must help - the plane... needed to be ready... I wasn't fast... fast enough. Sonic... I... I'm... sorry Sonic..." Tails said before falling asleep. Amy got Tails to his bed and tucked him in.  
"Don't worry Tails - everything will be okay..." Amy whispered before closing the door behind her.  


"I want to use some of my robots though..." Eggman whined across his message-sending system.   
"Very well. Send one to the town of Trience," the voice that had spoken to Sonic said.  
"Why Trience? That's just a small town - my robots can take on cities!" Eggman complained.  
"We need to see how one of your robots can handle against Shadow the Hedgehog," the voice explained.  
"Shadow? You mean the hedgehog from ARK, back when my grandfather was alive? He died a few months ago, when ARK was going to crash to the planet," Eggman stated.  
"Well Shadow is back. And he's become dillusional. He was going to be a part of my master's plans, but he's now a traitor to our cause. Send one of your robots to kill him, okay?" the voice told.   
"Very well... ooh... it's so hard to choose which one... they're all so great..." Eggman whispered to himself.  
"Don't be too long - Shadow should be there right now," the voice ended before turning off the communicating device.  
"Ooh, how about I just pick one randomly," Eggman said, pressing a series of buttons on his console. On the main screen pictures of all of Eggman's new Destruction-series robots rotated until Eggman pressed a button and a large picture of the robot he'd use appeared. It was a large humanoid green and dark gray robot with flame-throwers for hands, and feet designed to create shockwaves across the ground. Eggman sent the machine on its way to meet up with the hedgehog at Trience.  


Shadow walked up to a small restaurant, hoping to get some food for not too high a price. It was a small, quiet town Shadow had arrived at. There were members of several different species living there - but like most towns, there were mostly humans. Shadow waited patiently in the small line leading to the ordering station. Shadow got a good look at the menu - the food was reasonably affordable. Shadow gave a smirk as he pressed a camouflaged button on his left glove, opening a small slot with money inside. He got out the right amount for the food he planned to buy. It was his time to order, so he walked up and kindly asked for a salad. Out of the blue, a wave of energy burst across the floor, destroying the building and sending everyone flying. The walls cracked apart and the ceiling caved in, leaving several customers unconscious. Shadow pushed aside some of the rubble and looked around himself - a massive 30-foot robot was standing a few feet in front of him.  
"I can't even get a salad safely these days..." Shadow muttered as he faced the machine sternly. Shadow ran away from the building to prevent everyone still there from getting injured. The Destruction-series machine turned to face Shadow - it was after him, as he hoped. The robot then began to fire large bursts of flames across the area, burning the roadway and only missing Shadow by a few inches. Shadow ran up the building and jumped from the top to land on the robot's head, and spin-dashed down through the machine's head. The robot began to short-circuit. As Shadow landed on the ground below, the machine let out another wave of energy across the ground. Shadow ran from it but was not able to escape from it in time. He was knocked into a building head-on. Shadow was able to get back up just as the robot burnt the building down. Humans and other beings all across town were running from the threat. Shadow knew he'd have to take down the robot now if there were to be no casualties. Shadow ran straight for the robot's legs, spin-dashing through them as he got slightly burnt by the robot's flames. Minor burns covered Shadow as he ran up the robot's back, and spin-dashed through the center of the machine. The robot was still attempting to grab Shadow, as he flew threw the air and landed back on the ground. Shadow knew what the robot would do now - use its feet to create another wave of energy across the ground. As soon as Shadow landed, the robot did so, but Shadow was already back in the air, heading straight for the robot. He knocked the robot down on the ground, which was at the moment circulating with massive amounts of energy that the robot had just unleashed from its feet. The robot was destroyed by its own weapon as it was blown into hundreds of minute pieces that rolled across the ground from the shockwave it had just created. Shadow had stopped the menace with only minor injuries and a few buildings being destroyed. At the same time, Eggman's camera system on the robot went out, shocking him at the thought of Shadow defeating his precious robot.   
"I simply picked the wrong one," Eggman turned an angry dark red. "My other robots are better. They can handle a hedgehog, and the world."  
  
It was the next morning. Tails woke up, screaming when he realized he had been sleeping.  
"Now Sonic may be dead just because of my incompetence!" Tails yelled, running to his plane. Amy, who had spent the night in Tails' guest room, woke up from the clatter upstairs. Amy reached Tails as he was getting into the plane.  
"Tails, where are you going?!" Amy asked.  
"You can come if you want - I have to get to Sonic! He could be in serious danger," Tails said, starting the plane. Amy felt she had no choice and jumped into the back seat of the new plane. "I wish I could've tested all the functions of the plane out, but it's in working condition, and I'm out of time. I'm out of time... anything could have happened by now," Tails finished as the plane took off at a swift and quick speed.  



	2. Rendion

Chapter Two: Rendion

Sonic woke up, dizzy and confused. He was still at Angel Island. He remembered everything that happened the day before.   
"That guy's going to get it..." Sonic muttered to himself as he stood up. Sonic looked around - the Tornado 2 was gone. "Tails is going to hate me for this..." Sonic thought. Just as he thought of the fox, Tails and Amy in the Typhoon landed a couple hundred feet from Sonic.   
"Sonic! Are you okay?" Tails asked as he ran out from the plane.   
"I'm okay... but the guy I met here won't be," Sonic said.   
"Have you found anything out? About the attack?" Tails asked. Sonic looked at Tails for a moment.  
"I'm glad you're feeling better, buddy," Sonic stated as Amy walked over.  
"I'm... I'm sorry Sonic... I didn't want to let you down," Tails said.  
"It's okay, Tails. I'm just glad you're yourself again. We need to get to Eggman. I have a feeling that the guy I met is working with him," Sonic said.  
"But where would Eggman be, Sonic?" Amy questioned. Sonic then remembered where he needed to go.  
"I got to get to Rendion, and I need to get there quick, Tails. I might be too late already. How fast can your plane go?" Sonic quickly said.  
"Faster than you think," Tails smiled, and Sonic and Tails ran over to the plane.   
"Wait up! You two aren't leaving me here!" Amy said, following them. Sonic stood on the back of the plane as Tails and Amy took their seats.   
"I'll explain everything that happened on the way," Sonic said. And with that, the plane took off. The speed of the plane surprised Sonic - the Tornado 2 couldn't go half as fast, at least it seemed.   
"So who is it you met?" Tails asked back to Sonic.   
"He never showed himself to me, and I could never find him. I could only hear him. He killed an armadillo to mock me..." Sonic began.  
"No!" Amy gasped.  
"I tried to get him to a hospital, but he had already died. I came back here later to find the guy who killed him. I talked with him and he didn't keep his word when he promised he'd show himself if I answered his questions," Sonic explained.  
"What questions?" Tails asked.  
"Just personal questions. He used my answers to make fun of me. He thinks he could kill me if he wanted to, but he says he wants me to see everyone else in the world die first," Sonic continued.  
"Sounds crazy to me," Tails commented.  
"Yeah, but he's confident. He wasn't ridiculous like Eggman. He was much more relaxed. Much more serious. He used some kind of strange power to make me not be able to walk after he left - he like broke my leg in some weird way. It's better now, but he said I should get to Rendion. I think he plans to attack that town," Sonic said.  
"Well we'll be there in just a few minutes," Tails stated.   


"Thank you so much Shadow, for saving this town," the mayor said, shaking Shadow's hand.   
"You're welcome, and thank you for getting me to a doctor. I hope to come by again some time, but I must continue my travels," Shadow replied.  
"You're welcome anytime, Shadow," the mayor said as Shadow walked on down the road, heading for his next destination.   
  
"The time is now for Rendion to fall, Doctor," the voice that spoke to Sonic the day before told Eggman through the message-sending device.  
"Which robot should it be this time?" Eggman asked.  
"Pick three, and pick them now," the voice stated.   
"Oh, don't rush me... uh..." Eggman hurried as he looked from screen to screen. "Which ones... which ones..."  
"I'll separate Sonic from his friends. The robots need to be there by then," the voice instructed.  
"Okay, okay," Eggman said as the device turned off. Eggman pressed a button labeled "Three" on his main console. Onscreen, three different robots appeared, and Eggman gave the order for them to quickly fly to the town of Rendion.

  
Knuckles got up. He was covered in a liquid that slowly dripped off of him and into the liquid he sat in. He stood up, and looked about himself. The green liquid went about half way up to his knees. From the liquid came small emeralds with sparks of electricity that connected to them. Balls of light flew all about, and Knuckles began to worry about where he was. In a blinding flash of light, the environment changed, and Knuckles was at the ancient temple that once housed the Master and Chaos Emeralds.   
"This is just like the visions Tikal had given me..." Knuckles realized. "Am I having another?"

  
Rouge had made her way to Angel Island's tunnels. Once out of them, she could see the old wooden bridge that bridged the gap to the shrine of the Master Emerald. One of the flying fortresses that had attacked a couple days ago was stationed near it, and Rouge knew there'd likely be hundreds of guard robots there. She turned on her portable transmitter.  
"Rouge reporting. I'm near the shrine of the Master Emerald, but what appears to be one of the vehicles that attacked about two days ago is docked nearby. Signs show that the massive vehicle docked here was created by Doctor Ivo Robotnik," Rouge began, noting the logo of Eggman's face imprinted on the side of the fortress. "I'll have more details shortly," Rouge ended as she quickly made her way to the other side of the shrine undetected.

  
Rendion was a somewhat large town, composed mainly of humans and hedgehogs. Today seemed to be just another normal day.  
"Good morning, Rendion. Today is Saturday the 14th, and it's a nice sunny day - a great morning to go outside, relax, and forget your troubles," one radio announcer started his newscast. The Typhoon landed just outside the town, and Sonic quickly jumped out to assess the situation. Everything looked just fine - he didn't see any robots or any kind of flying fortress attacking.   
"This is Rendion, right?" Sonic asked.  
"The coordinates are correct. Unless my plane's computer system isn't working, this place is Rendion. Though that might be the case - I couldn't fully test everything," Tails explained.  
"Maybe that guy wanted you to come here instead of somewhere else," Amy said. Sonic fumed at the idea.  
"Sonic, don't worry. You can't be everywhere at once. Maybe he wants you to think that he wanted you to come here instead of somewhere else so that you'd leave and then the place would be destroyed and then you'd feel bad because you overthought the situation and could've defended the town since you were just there," Tails said without taking a breath. Sonic and Amy stared at Tails for a few moments.  
"Um... sure," Sonic finally broke the silence. The three continued to look around for a few minutes. Something caught Amy's eye.  
"What's that over there?" Amy asked, pointing to a large figure in the sky.   
"One of Eggman's new robots!" Sonic said.  
"There's another over there!" Tails pointed out in the other direction.   
"Tails, you take that one in the air - I've got the one farther away," Sonic instructed as he ran down the roadway towards the attacking robot. Tails got into his plane and quickly started it up. Amy got in the back just before he took off and headed to the other robot attacking.  
Sonic quickly reached his robot - it was a robot that was essentially a large silver cylinder that hovered slightly above the ground, bashing cars in the roadway with its two arms made up of several smaller silver cylinders, connected together as if with invisible string - the small cylinders just floating near each other.  
"You're so going to get it," Sonic said as he spin dashed straight for the robot's center. Upon impact, a large explosion erupted and Sonic broke away free.   
"Too easy..." Sonic let out. The smoke cleared, but the robot appeared to not even be scratched from the attack. Sonic snapped his finger and ran back up to the robot. Humans and hedgehogs were running from the area as the slow-moving machine bashed down a building with its arms. Meanwhile, Tails was flying his plane towards the robot that was firing upon a taller building. The robot appeared to be a large red spike loaded with jet propellers and tens of different guns. Tails flew in and began firing his plane's new weapons upon the robot. His machine gun bullets missed the speedy machine as it launched a missile towards a building, destroying it. The robot passed by Tails and Amy and headed towards another building.  
"Time for the boosters," Tails said, flipping a switch on his dashboard. The plane then took off and quickly caught up to the robot. Tails was finally able to hit it with a couple of dropped explosives. The robot swooped around and began firing on Tails' plane, then sending a homing missile at it. Tails began to maneuver speedily around the town's buildings to avoid the approaching missile. Unable to avoid it for long, Tails swung around as quickly as possible and fired upon the missile from behind, destroying it. Tails quickly flew back to the robot to confront it once again. At this time, Sonic was making his move on the cylindrical robot. He had tried spin dashing through it several times, but after the machine would blow up each time it would seem to re-create itself.  
"Every robot has a weak spot," Sonic thought. "I just have to find this robot's weakness." It wasn't long before Sonic tried a new way to defeat the machine. Sonic ran up the robot and onto its left arm, and with all his might grabbed and ran off with the end cylinder of the robot. Sonic guessed correctly - the robot's cylinders had a special kind of magnetic attraction to each other to keep it stable yet not magnetize to any other substance. The robot was pulled along by Sonic, running at top speed. Out of the city, Sonic traveled across the grassy landscape for several minutes before arriving upon a large cliff. Sonic threw the cylinder as hard as he could, and ducked under the huge speeding robot as it connected to the thrown cylinder too late, falling off the cliff and down hundreds of feet to its destruction.   
As Sonic was running, Tails was still flying after the airborne robot destroying another building. Tails locked-on to the robot for a moment, and instantly fired a special energy-based weapon of his. In that split-second maneuver the shot missed. Fortunately Tails had double-tapped the trigger and the robot flew straight into the second shot, blowing it into hundreds of minute metallic pieces that tumbled to the roadway below. Amy congratulated Tails on his plane-maneuvering skills as he landed the plane smoothly. Meanwhile, Sonic was taking a breather by the side of the cliff, relaxing from all his running. The town was far in the distance now, but he knew Tails may need his help. Just before he left though, the voice that had spoken to him earlier was heard.  
"Hold on a moment, Sonic," it stated calmly and casually. "Both robots were destroyed."  
"I knew you're a part of this! You're working with Eggman!" Sonic let out, looking around for the holder of the voice. There were no trees or bushes to hide behind here, yet there was nobody to be found.   
"I just wanted to warn you, before you return to town," the voice said.  
"Hurry it up then," Sonic replied impatiently.  
"I wanted to warn you... that you are going to fail again. Everyone's back in town now that the robots are gone, and everyone thinks the attack is over. In a few minutes, they are all going to die," the voice explained plainly.  
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Sonic yelled.  
"There are twenty miniature and highly-explosive bombs scattered across the town. They will all detonate in a few minutes. You will be unable to even reach the town in time to warn anyone, including your friends," the voice revealed. Sonic clenched his fists and ran off to the town at an even faster speed then he left it.  
"No way that guy's going to get away with the senseless killing again... no way," Sonic thought as he sped across the hills at a speed that hurt him to breathe. Sonic sped into the town, and slowed down to warn as many people as he could.  
"EVERYBODY RUN!! THIS TOWN'S GONNA BLOW!!" Sonic screamed as he ran down the road. A couple people watched him go by, confused. A few others took the advice, remembering the robots that just attacked. Sonic continued yelling for everyone to run as he sped down another roadway. A hedgehog yelled at Sonic, asking him what he said, but Sonic was already gone. Sonic went down another main roadway, yelling that the town was going to explode. Some people began to run, and some others stayed put. Sonic was covered in sweat, trying to keep running and yelling. Sonic ran down another roadway - he tried to yell but couldn't anymore. There still hadn't been any explosions, and he couldn't find Tails or Amy anywhere.  
"Maybe the guy was bluffing," Sonic considered. Suddenly, a gigantic 100-foot black centipede-like robot appeared from the ground in the center of town.   
"He just wanted to tire me out," Sonic realized as he fell to the ground, panting madly. The robot rammed straight through a series of small buildings, destroying them all on impact. Sonic quickly got up, shocked, and fell back to the ground, yelling in pain. He saw Tails and Amy in the plane up above, heading for the enormous robot which was now jumping through the air and plunging back underground. A few moments later, it plunged back out down the street and lunged for Tails and Amy. As it was directly behind the plane, Amy swung her large hammer at the machine, re-directing it slightly and forcing it back underground. A few moments later though, the centipede-like machine flew out of ground in front of the plane, opened its mouth, and swiftly enveloped the plane along with Tails and Amy before returning underground. Sonic forced himself back up at the sight of this despite the intense pain that surged through his body. He began running towards the area the robot was at. The roadways were destroyed by the maddening machine, and half the town was nothing but rubble as the robot continued its motion of lunging out from the ground, ramming through a building, then plunging back into the ground. Sonic reached the wild machine, which jumped out directly in front of Sonic, pushing him away and tossing piles of rubble atop of him. Sonic managed to push some rubble away so he could see once again, and to his surprise he saw none other than Shadow the Hedgehog, now in combat with the centipede-like robot. Shadow spin dashed through several of its many metallic black legs and managed to keep it from destroying the town's largest building. From his control room, Eggman fumed.   
"I will NOT let that town survive!" he yelled as he called his co-conspirator.   
"What is it Doctor?" the voice asked.  
"I'm sending some more robots to help," Eggman explained.  
"Don't, you fool - no need to waste your robots. You don't have an endless supply. I'm telling you the situation is being handled. Everything is going perfectly according to my master's plans," the voice finished before hanging up. Eggman plopped back into his chair disappointed. Meanwhile, Shadow continued to take on the gigantic robot.  
"You have destroyed much of this town. How will you like it when most of you is destroyed as well?" Shadow plainly asked as he continued spin dashing through more of its legs. The robot began to have trouble escaping underground now, making smaller leaps and less-devastating jumps. The robot went straight for Shadow when he was in mid-air. Shadow was able to avoid its mouth, but got pushed along the rough top-side of the machine as it plunged into the ground. Shadow spinned in place as the centipede-like robot dug into the ground. Shadow was then swiftly knocked back hundreds of feet as the robot jumped back out right for Shadow. Shadow was rammed straight into a building the robot then destroyed, tossing tons of rubble on top of the hedgehog. Just then, Sonic was back up and spin dashing through more of the robot's legs. Tens of legs flew off into pieces as Sonic spin dashed back and forth across the enormous machine.   
"My baby's not going to make it!" Eggman yelled from his control room. "I don't care what he will say - I'm going to save my machine!" he yelled to himself as he began pressing several buttons on his control panel. Sonic fell to the ground, nearly passing out from the pain he was going through, physically and emotionally. His friends were gone, the town practically destroyed, and he now couldn't move at all as he moaned in pain, unable to scream in agony. The robot lunged for the helpless Sonic, but just before it could make contact with the hedgehog, it vanished.   
"I'm glad all my robots have a teleporter system connected to them," Eggman said as he viewed on his control screen that the badly-damaged robot was now in a large storage room within the flying fortress. Eggman smiled, glad that he saved one of his favorite robots. Meanwhile, the owner of the voice that spoke to Sonic smiled. Eggman had done just as he had hoped.   
"Now Sonic's friends are being held captive by Robotnik. We can use them later... but now, it's time to meet with Sonic face-to-face," the voice stated as the holder of the voice approached Sonic, who lying down atop of a pile of rubble, only barely conscious. The holder of the voice stood behind Sonic, who was unable to move his head to see who was behind him.  
"Hello, Sonic the Hedgehog, the mighty world-renowned hero. You now lie helpless in a town you were unable to save. I can kill you right now. Your friends are no longer here. They can't help you anymore. Shadow the Hedgehog now lies dead but a few hundred feet away from you," the voice began. Sonic's eyes shut, unable to keep them open as he let out a soft, low moan.   
"Ironic that I am the only one that can save you. Everyone that's still alive in this town has fled or is terribly injured. I wonder how long the list of casualties is. I wonder how much longer it will be in a moment. Well, you won't be on that list, because I'm going to save you now. You see, like I said, the town will explode in a few minutes. Only this time I mean it," the voice finished. The holder of the voice picked up Sonic and walked out of the town with him. The holder of the voice continued to walk straight and tall. The holder of the voice did not look back when the series of bombs went off, creating tens of explosions and taking out everything that was left of the town. The holder of the voice continued to walk carrying Sonic, knowing that his master's plans were at this point faultless.  



	3. Flying Fortress

Chapter Three: Flying Fortress

Sonic woke up, dizzy and aching all over. He was in the Station Square Hospital, in one of their hospital beds. There was nobody in the room but him. Sonic rubbed his head, throbbing with pain. Sonic sat in the bed for about an hour, pondering.   
"I really did fail, didn't I? Are Tails and Amy dead? What happened to them when the robot got them? When Shadow came, why'd he have to get killed? There was so much I would've told him... Tails... Amy... don't be dead..." Sonic thought, eyes gaping at this realization. "Don't... be dead... I'm sorry... Why? Why'd this happen? Who is this devil that haunts me? Why'd I fail that town? They were counting on me, Sonic. I... I never... the town counted on me... I failed them... I let them down... and hundreds have died..." Sonic just sat astonished. "My friends... gone... just like the guy said... and he makes me live to suffer..." 

Eggman looked at one of his screens providing vital information on his three flying fortresses, including the one he was in. The one docked at Angel Island had an intruder.  
"My little guard robots there will handle it," Eggman thought. Eggman continued watching the screen. A moment later, it showed that 20 guard robots had been destroyed. When a few minutes passed many more were eliminated.  
Eggman pounded his armchair, saying, "Who is it you lousy computer?!" Eggman pressed a button to show the viewing of a local camera. The camera was destroyed before he could get a look at the intruder. Eggman returned to the screen with data - no more robots were being destroyed, and the intruder was nowhere to be found.   
"I'll send in one of my Destruction-series robots to investigate," Eggman muttered as he had one randomly selected. The robot was then swiftly sent on its way to Angel Island.  


Rouge had made her way into an unused hallway aboard the docked fortress on Angel Island. She slowly and lightly walked across the metal flooring to keep from being detected.  
"I'll just get to a computer, hack into the old doctor's network, and get all the information I need for the president. Then I can get those jewels of mine," Rouge planned out in her head.   
"I do believe you're intruding, Rouge the Bat," the voice that had been speaking to Sonic said. Rouge quickly turned around. There appeared to be nobody there, but it was difficult to see in the poorly lit hallway.  
"I'm willing to give you a deal - you seem to be a reasonable spy," the voice stated.  
"What do you want?" Rouge asked.  
"I only want you to leave, and not intrude on the doctor's plans. I could turn you in you know - trespassing is against the law. But I won't. In fact, if you leave now, I can give you something of value," the voice instructed.  
"Quit my mission at this point? I don't think so," Rouge said.  
"You're only doing it for the reward. Here," the voice said. A group of sparkling jewels appeared a few feet from Rouge. Rouge stared at them in disbelief.  
"How many are there?" Rouge asked.  
"At least twenty. Keep them for yourself. Just don't come back, and don't intrude on the doctor's plans. If you don't, I'll kill you the next time I meet you, which I would hate to do," the voice ended. Rouge waited a few minutes before taking the jewels and flying away.  
"Now to tell Robotnik to send his robot back," the voice muttered. "No reason to waste another."  


Sonic stared at the ceiling above his hospital bed. He had begun crying for his lost friends.   
"I'll never see them again..." Sonic whimpered. "Why did this have to happen?" Sonic thought as someone walked in. To Sonic's amazement, it was Shadow.  
"How are you feeling?" Shadow asked.  
"Shadow? How are you alive?!" Sonic asked back. "First I see you're alive despite falling to the Earth from space. Then I see you were bashed straight into that building, before it all collapsed on you!"  
Shadow thought about it for a moment, a concerned look on his face as he said, "I'm not sure. I know I was killed. Both times. At least I thought I was. And then I came back. Both times. I don't understand how, but I've escaped death in some manner I cannot be sure of twice now."  
"Weird..." Sonic said. "But I'm glad you're all right."  
Shadow crossed his arms, "Have you heard a voice lately, but not known who the owner of it was?"  
"Yes, why do you ask?" Sonic replied.  
"I believe the owner of that voice is connected to everything," Shadow said.  
"Everything?" Sonic questioned.  
"I believe the voice belongs to a being named Esimed. I don't know much about him, minus his abilities," Shadow explained.  
"You met him?" Sonic asked.  
"He spoke to me a few weeks ago, but didn't show himself to me. So how are you feeling?" Shadow asked again.  
"I'm... I'm okay," Sonic replied.  
"It's time to go then. There isn't much time," Shadow said.  
  
Knuckles saw her, sitting at the bottom of the staircase that led to the Master Emerald - Tikal. Knuckles walked over to see if she knew what was going on, or what had happened to him.  
"Another is with us," Knuckles heard Tikal say. Knuckles got closer, and saw that next to Tikal was a firm puddle - it was Chaos. Knuckles stopped to stay a short distance away.  
"What's going on?" Knuckles asked clearly. Tikal turned her head to face Knuckles.   
"You are within the Master Emerald," Tikal explained.  
"It must've been whoever-that-was, with all those ships Eggman was bringing in, back on the island. When I get out of here he's really going to get it!" Knuckles said angrily. Silence followed for a minute. Knuckles asked his nagging question, "Now how do I get out?"  
"What strange power that brought you here, I do not know, but the only way to leave the inner reaches of the Master Emerald is to be released," Tikal explained. Knuckles froze in his place.  
He knew the answer to it, but he had to ask, "You mean... I'm stuck here?"

  
"Tails? Where are we?" Amy asked. She had woken up, but wasn't sitting in the back seat of the plane anymore. She was inside some kind of strange, small metal cage. She couldn't stand up in it, or even lay across, and it was pitch black where she was at. She felt the cage - there were many small bars that went vertically and horizontally all around the perimeter of it. With no way to see or even know where she was, Amy sighed and leaned against a side of the cage, stumped as to what to do. Meanwhile, Tails was in a similar predicament. He was also in a cage just like Amy's, but had come up with a plan to escape and had the means to do so. Tails pushed a small button on his left shoe - he didn't have to be able to see to find it. From the bottom of the shoe emerged an electronic device designed to cut through metals. Tails quickly and easily used it to cut through the bars and escape, flying through the darkness to try to find Amy and a way out.  


"So what is this place?" Sonic asked Shadow, as they walked into the room of a small abandoned building.   
"Professor Gerald Robotnik used this building as storage for some of his equipment, and would come here to test experiments with nature he could not do so in the ARK. We're going to use this teleporting system of his," Shadow explained before pressing a series of buttons on a small console.  
"Where are you going to?" Sonic asked.  
"I must confront Esimed. He will be at ARK," Shadow explained  
"Know how to defeat him?" Sonic asked.  
"No, I can only guess. I'll teleport you first to your destination," Shadow stated.  
"Where're you sending me?" Sonic asked, stepping onto the electronic pad.  
"One of Eggman's three flying fortresses. Your friends are there," Shadow said.  
"What?!" Sonic gasped.  
"Eggman would have teleported the robot that enveloped Tails and Amy. I know which fortress Eggman resides at, so they would more than likely be there. Now off you go," Shadow said before sending Sonic away.  
"See ya," Sonic said before vanishing. Shadow stood in thought for a moment.  
"Don't worry Maria... Earth will be protected. I am needed here. As I return to home, I can only hope you give me the strength to not fail," Shadow whispered as he was teleported away.  


Sonic ran down the hallways, taking out guard robots along the way. He was used to this kind of stuff. Suddenly, from under the flooring emerged one of Eggman's large and powerful machines. This one was small enough to fit in the hallway, but was still about three times larger than Sonic. The armless, blue and green humanoid robot sped towards Sonic, firing a series of bombs from its head. Sonic sped under and jumped over the blasts, then in a quick U-turn headed back to face the robot. As this happened, Tails came out from the end of the hallway, seeing Sonic fighting the robot. Sonic didn't notice, but Tails ran as quickly as he could to come help. The robot turned to its side and instantly arms emerged, stretching out 50 feet each down both ends of the hallway, one flying right past Sonic. From the ends of the arms emerged wall-like hands that filled the space between the ceiling, walls, and flooring. It essentially created a small room with only the robot and Sonic. Sonic, confused, stopped before reaching the robot, which began beeping - slowly at first but quickly gaining speed. Tails heard this and reached the wall the robot created, blocking Tails off.   
"Sonic! SONIC!! GET OUT OF THERE!!!" Tails yelled. Sonic heard Tails outside yelling, and quickly attempted spin dashing away, but couldn't penetrate the walls the robot created to keep him inside. The beeping stopped, and the robot exploded. The blast blew Tails back ten feet, and when he got back up, nothing was left but a deep, dark, and long hole in the hallway. Tails looked down the hole, seeing that it seemed to go down for tens of stories. Tears filled his eyes instantly.  
"S-S....Sonic? Sonic?" Tails stuttered. "Sonic? Sonic!!!! Sonic, answer me!!! PLEASE SONIC BE OKAY!!! I'M SORRY SONIC!! I'M SORRY!! I FAILED YOU- I FAILED YOU!!!" Tails began yelling down the hole, tears streaming. "SONIC!! SONIC!!! COME BACK!!!" Tails screamed. In the middle of this guard robots began storming into the hallway. Tails instinctively defeated them all, and afterwards flopped to the ground, crouching into a dark corner. "Sonic..." he let out, face wet. "Sonic's dead... because I failed him..." Tails cried. Tails saw the laser blaster of one of the guard robots lying next to him. Tails stared at it sadly for several minutes. "I failed him..." he said aloud again, picking up the weapon. Tails stared at the silent hole again. "I failed him..." He put the weapon up to his head. "I failed him..." he repeated, staring at the hole Sonic's remains would be lying at the bottom of. "I failed him..." Tails pulled the trigger.  


Amy stared into the darkness. Amy stared, knowing not what to do, for hours. She never felt so alone in her life. She couldn't know if Tails was all right, or even Sonic. Would anyone save her? Was there any way to escape? She had tried using her hammer, but it was useless against this metal.  
"It's hopeless..." Amy thought, staring at the shadowed ground sadly. Amy slapped herself. "I can't give up hope! Not yet! I'll get out of here!" Amy said aloud. An hour passed, and trying everything she could think of, was unable to escape. She couldn't think of what to do, or what to tell herself. Was there a way out? What was going to happen to her? How long would it be before she's killed?   
"I can't think such things!" Amy slapped herself again. "I CAN'T GIVE UP HOPE!" she exclaimed, echoing in the darkness. Amy whimpered to herself - there was nobody there to help her. "But is there any hope?" Amy thought as she began to cry alone.  
  
Eggman pounded the arm rests of his chair.   
"Sonic and his allies keep destroying my masterpiece machines! If only Esimed would let me just kill him! Then Sonic won't keep destroying my robots! Sonic thinks he's so good and nice, but he's a killer! He kills all my perfect robots without any remorse!" Eggman complained to himself. The message-sending device rang, and Eggman pressed a button on his console.   
"Doctor Robotnik? Prepare your robots and your fortress. The time has come," Esimed said.  
"Well it's about time," Eggman stated.  
"Patience is key, Doctor Robotnik, to my master's plans," Esimed reassured Eggman.  
"How many robots will it take to do this?" Eggman asked.  
"I would think just a few. It didn't take much effort to destroy Rendion. This time you're bringing you're fortress. And if my plans are executed without fault, you shouldn't have Sonic's allies aiding him, and Sonic himself will be little of a challenge in the state of mind he will enter. You DO have the mutated fox and pink hedgehog in their cages, correct?" Esimed asked.  
"Of course. Sonic just came a little bit ago - he should be at the bottom of the fortress if my wonderful robot's wall-creating function worked as I'm sure it did, since I made it," Eggman said with a smile.   
"Not without my master's help, you wouldn't of made any of those Destruction-series robots," Esimed replied.  
"So? It was me that got them made," Eggman said.  
"Right. Now remember, for the plan Sonic needs to witness their deaths," Esimed instructed.  
"Yeah I know. I want to go pick some robots now," Eggman said, turning off the message-sending device before Esimed could say more.  
"Now which robots will be the ones?" Eggman mused, looking concerningly through the deck of robot cards, now smaller than how it started out.   
"Oh, I just know Sonic's going to hurt you..." Eggman said sadly. "I don't care what that no-good Esimed says. What does he know anyways? I'm the mastermind here! I'm a genius! I have a chance to kill Sonic, if he's not dead already, so I will! He will never harm one of my robots again!!"  


Sonic felt like a train ran over him.   
"My aching... all of me..." Sonic moaned, trying to sit up. He had survived the robot miraculously, but he was now lost deep inside the flying fortress.   
"Man... I thought I heard Tails back there... then the robot exploded... that was a close call back there..." Sonic thought, remembering how he used the blown hull of the robot to shield himself from the explosion, and to avoid death from falling down the pit by forcing the hull into a metal wall to break his fall. He still got badly injured, but he wasn't in critical condition.   
"What happened?! What's going on!? Somebody HELP ME!!!" someone was yelling. Sonic recognized the voice. Amy was yelling for help, but the yells were being relayed through an intercom system. She could be anywhere in the metallic fortress. Sonic forced himself to get up, and he began running down one of the main hallways on the bottom floor, searching for a sign of Amy. Ten minutes passed and he continued to hear Amy's pleas for help. Sonic searched, room after room, destroying guard robot after guard robot, trying desperately to find Amy's location. It seemed like hours to Sonic before he found the room she was in. Sonic turned on a dim light to see Amy was in a cage just before it vanished. Sonic ran over to a square hole to see that the cage was falling rapidly straight down the chute. Sonic jumped in and began running down the hole as quickly as possible. He caught up to the cage and stood atop of it as it continued falling at a quickening pace.  
"Sonic! Look out!" Amy yelled pointing at a series of small, spike-covered robots that were flying at an incredible speed down the chute towards them. Sonic quickly spin-dashed the corners atop the cage to break it open, and threw the gate straight up for the robots to fly straight into. Sonic then grabbed Amy and quickly ran up the chute. The rest of the cage fell with a crash beneath the two. A few moments later they were out of the hole and back in the room that Amy was in just before the cage was released down the chute.  


Eggman yelled furiously, "Bah! Forget witnessing friends' deaths! I'll just have everyone in here die at once! I'm not taking any chances! That's right, no chances! And then I'm going to use all my robots! Not just a couple. I'm going to use them all!" Eggman quickly pushed a series of buttons and entered several passwords the computer requested. The screen displayed "Activated: Self-Destruct Sequence." Eggman pressed a button on his chair and it morphed into a small hovering vehicle he began to fly with. Eggman pressed a few buttons to teleport all of his new robots to one of his other flying fortresses so they wouldn't be destroyed. An overhead doorway opened up and Eggman quickly zoomed out of his flying fortress, leaving everything and everyone within it to die within the massive explosions that would follow in a few minutes.  


"Whoever gave me those jewels back in the other fortress wasn't kidding," Rouge thought as sirens went off all around her. "This fortress is going to be destroyed any minute now." She quickly ran to a computer console within the bridge.  
"It's a good thing I got all of Eggman's data already. Time to cancel this so I can find what his plans are," she thought while pressing a series of buttons. A few moments later the main screen showed that the self-destruct sequence was canceled.   
"That doctor must have been in a big hurry. That was rather easy to enter his database. Now to find what's next on Robotnik's agenda," Rouge told herself while searching through Eggman's computer systems. After looking through several files she had a good idea of what the doctor was going to do, and it contained only bad news.  


Sonic and Amy found Tails lying on the ground. Tails was crying in the corner of the hallway Sonic had thought he heard Tails at, while he was fighting that robot.  
"Tails? What's up?" Sonic nudged Tails. Tails looked up to see Sonic, still alive and well. Tails stared in disbelief.  
"Sonic?" Tails continued crying. "I thought I had failed you... I thought you died!!" he sobbed.  
"It's okay Tails... It's all right. I thought you and Amy had died back in Rendion, but you're both okay. We're going to make it, Tails. We're going to get through this alive, or my name's not Sonic," Sonic assured Tails, helping him stand up. Tails wiped away his tears.  
"I... I tried killing myself... I couldn't even do that," Tails whimpered, holding up the weapon that failed to fire earlier. The guard robot that had used the weapon had used up all of its energy before Tails destroyed the robot. The weapon was useless when Tails had picked it up and fired the trigger.  
Sonic and Amy were nearly sobbing by this point as well when Sonic continued, "It's all right, Tails... It's all right." It was then that Rouge flew in to where the three were talking.  
"I had a feeling you three would be involved somehow," Rouge said.  
"What are you doing here?" Sonic asked.  
"More spying and jewel-earning. It's time for everyone to leave this fortress though. There's escape pods down this hallway, as well as a plane. I can set it to self-destruct before we escape," Rouge explained.   
"Good to know you're on our side still," Sonic said as the four made their way to an escape pod. Tails got in his plane, the Typhoon, as the doorway opened for them to vacate. Rouge pressed a series of buttons on a computer console and the fortress was set to self-destruct once again. The escape pod and Tails' plane were flown away from the fortress, and a few minutes later the fortress was destroyed.   
"So where are we going?" Amy asked.  
Rouge explained, "I found Eggman's plans. He's going to attack Station Square with a series of powerful robots and one of his two remaining flying fortresses."  



	4. Station Square

Chapter Four: Station Square  


Shadow walked down one of ARK's many pathways, hoping he'd find the answers to his many questions.   
"Hello, Shadow. It is good to see you once again," the voice of Esimed echoed through the hallway. Shadow looked around, not finding anyone in sight.  
"So, Esimed. Want to have another talk, I'm sure?" Shadow questioned.  
"I would like that greatly, Shadow. I'm afraid things haven't worked out. Doctor Ivo Robotnik has failed to follow through with my master's hard-worked-on plans. I can only hope his mistakes don't ruin everything. If so, it is okay. We can still make everything work out," Esimed went on.  
"So you are working with Robotnik? Why?" Shadow asked.  
"Only because you are Shadow, I will answer your questions. Yes, my master is aiding the doctor. Or using him, I should say," Esimed explained.  
"Just who is your master?" Shadow questioned.  
"You know my master... Shadow... It's never too late to join us. My master wants badly for you to return to us. And so do I," Esimed said.  
"What is it you and your master exactly want? They wish to destroy the world?" Shadow asked.  
Esimed answered, "Oh yes, Shadow. The inhabitants of that planet deserve to be eliminated from existence. It was the wish of the late Gerald Robotnik to continue Project: Shadow, and to repay the debt. Vengeance will be ours, Shadow."  


"All right, I'm dropping you two off at Station Square. I have my own agenda to fulfill," Rouge explained as the escape pod landed in the city. Tails landed his plane next to the escape pod and Sonic and Amy got out.   
"See ya later, and thanks!" Amy said before the doorway closed and the escape pod flew off.  
"So Eggman's going to mount an attack on Station Square?" Tails asked.  
"Yeah, but this time we'll be ready for him," Sonic said.  
"Does the city know they're going to be attacked?" Amy asked.  
"Don't know. You get in the plane with Tails. I'll go check for anything in the city really quick," Sonic said before running off. He made it to the center of the city a minute later and looked around. The roads were blocked off and tens of GUN vehicles were stationed at each corner. Sonic looked up to see a series of GUN helicopters and jets flying around.  
"Eggman must be coming," Sonic thought before running up a building to look from the top. Sonic looked around and found one of Eggman's flying fortresses approaching the city from the distance.   
"He'll be here in a few minutes. Wonder how many of those big robots he will use," Sonic continued to think, referring to Eggman's Destruction-series machines. Sonic watched as a group of GUN jets flew to Eggman's fortress, and after a few seconds they were all shot down.  
"All right Eggman... today you're going to regret everything you've ever done..." Sonic told himself as he ran back down the building to tell Tails the situation.  


"Why didn't you tell me? You have the Guardian Echo," Tikal told Knuckles.  
"I don't even know what that is," Knuckles replied.  
"Proof you are a guardian. It is also the only reason you can speak with me," Tikal said. Chaos was still as a puddle at the base of the shrine.  
"Guardian of Angel Island you mean?" Knuckles questioned.  
"The effect of your ancestors' tampering, yes," Tikal answered.  
"You mean the island floating into the air?" Knuckles asked.  
"I believe time is short. You have the way to leave. This event was foretold, and my parting with Chaos is to come with the saving of the world," Tikal said.  
"How can I leave? This Guardian Echo thing?" Knuckles asked.  
"The Guardian Echo is an energy that shall enable you to exit the Abode of Chaos. I know of this through past guardians," Tikal stated. When Knuckles realized that he could indeed leave the Master Emerald, a circle of green light surrounded him, Tikal, and Chaos. They appeared outside of the Emerald atop of the present-day shrine, where one of Eggman's flying fortresses was still docked nearby. Chaos formed into his normal shape and let out an angry roar.  
"Chaos has held an anger for the Robotnik line since he was released by one," Tikal explained, now in the form of a ball of light. Chaos stretched out his arms and they smoothed out across large portions of the side of the docked fortress. And with one push shoved the entire fortress off the cliff and down to the forests below to its destruction. Chaos oozed back to Knuckles and Tikal and morphed back to his normal form.  
"Wow... good one," Knuckles said. It was just then that the escape pod with Rouge arrived.   
After landing, Rouge walked out and asked, "Where'd Robotnik's fortress here go? Did you see it leave?"  
"It's gone all right. Chaos here just destroyed it," Knuckles said, pointing towards Chaos.  
"Eh..." Rouge said, surprised and not too happy at the same time to see Chaos there. She had read what happened to Station Square.  
"Don't worry, he only means harm to Eggman," Knuckles explained. "So what are you doing here anyways?" he asked.  
"I was going to try to stop that fortress from aiding in the attack on Station Square," Rouge said.  
"Well, that's one fortress you don't have to worry about. Attack on Station Square you say? How many more of those things does Eggman have?" Knuckles asked.  
"Well there's only one left. Just that one fortress though may be enough to destroy the city, along with all his new robots. So I've got to get going - the city may need my help," Rouge said before heading back to the escape pod.  
"Wait up, I can help as well," Knuckles said. Chaos and Tikal followed him into the pod before it took off for Station Square.  


"Look!" Amy pointed towards Eggman's approaching flying fortress. Sonic and Tails turned to see Eggman's Destruction-series robots pouring out and beginning to destroy all nearby buildings.   
"Are there people in those buildings?" Sonic asked.  
"The whole city's been evacuated, according to the radio. There's only been GUN troops here for the past few hours," Tails explained.  
"Good, let's get busy," Sonic said before speeding off in the blink of an eye. Tails started up his plane and that too was off.  
"Okay Eggman, this is it," Sonic thought as he ran down the main roadway towards the massive robots. "I will not let you get away with these killings. I will not let this city fall. I will not let you destroy anymore! Failure is not an option for me this time. When your last fortress is gone, and all your new robots destroyed, you won't be getting away. You're in for it this time!" Sonic arrived at a robot that plowed straight through a building, and turned its blinding yellow eyes at Sonic. It was a monster of a robot. A robotic ball covered with hundreds of little yellow eyes, and from that ball extended tens of 20-foot metal legs, with bases of 10 square feet each that smashed rubble to dust. Sonic spin dashed through a few of its legs as the machine fired bursts of energy from each of its eyes. Sonic deflected off another leg that tried smashing him, and spin dashed straight through several more of the legs. Hundreds of bursts of energy were fired upon him. With his lightning-fast speed Sonic dodged them all and spin dashed through several more of its legs. The machine began losing its balance as Sonic took down another couple legs that Sonic could only barely avoid along with the tens of energy blasts fired at him. As the machine fell to the ground Sonic ran up a building, and from the top spin dashed straight for the center of the machine. His positioning was perfect. Avoiding the gale of energy blasts by millimeters, Sonic spin dashed directly through the machine's center, destroying it in a powerful explosion. The area they had fought in was scorched with hundreds of energy blasts, and several building already destroyed. Sonic turned to see many more Destruction-series robots destroying many more buildings. At the same time Eggman within his flying fortress was firing down upon several buildings himself. There was no time to rest or celebrate, so Sonic took off to face another robot.   
Meanwhile, GUN fighter jets were busy taking down a 60-foot plane-like machine that was blowing up tops of buildings with a massive electrical cannon. The shiny black robot also had tens of eel-looking devices on its sides that fired electric waves upon the GUN jets. At the cost of several jets, the eel-like devices were destroyed. A GUN jet that launched a series of missiles for its center and another jet that dropped a bomb directly into the cannon finished off the machine.  
At the same time Tails maneuvered his plane towards a 20-foot long Destruction-series robot that also flew in the air. It was a thin, triangular yellow machine that glided through the air and cut straight through buildings. Tails fired his machine guns towards the robot, which positioned itself to deflect the bullets off its side. The robot headed directly for Tails. In the few moments he had, Tails dived the plane straight down to barely avoid getting sliced in half. And in that instant Amy pounded her hammer atop the machine, spinning it end over end uncontrollably. Tails quickly turned his plane back and fired a missile at the right moment, destroying the robot as it was unable to defend itself. Tails flew around, seeing the many massive robots destroying buildings with ease.  
"This doesn't look good... The city's not going to make it. Eggman's just too strong!" Tails said.  
"No he's not!" Amy yelled back. "Don't give up, Tails. Just get to another robot and don't lose hope! Even if the city is destroyed, you can at least know you tried your best!" she exclaimed.   
"Right. You're right!" Tails nodded, taking his plane to another robot.  
Sonic began taking on a devastating red machine that was essentially a 20-foot hand with two mechanical legs to walk around with. Running around with its legs, the massive hand went from building to building punching them down and making them crash to the ground. Sonic attempted spin dashing for its legs, but the hand smashed the ground directly in front of Sonic, throwing tons of rubble in Sonic's pathway and flinging him into another direction. The seven thin, long fingers quickly became rocket launchers and shot seven rockets directly towards Sonic's expected destination, blowing up the entire area. Sonic escaped the havoc with only some bad cuts and began running another direction. This machine was quick though, and began running for Sonic at a surprising speed. The massive hand swiped for Sonic, but Sonic slipped through its fingers and spin dashed backwards, breaking down a couple fingers. The remaining fingers became rocket launchers again and fired upon Sonic. Sonic stopped and timed his next move. The five rockets came from different angles. Sonic jumped as four collided into each other at the same time, the fifth swerving above the explosion towards the airborne Sonic. Sonic grabbed the upcoming rocket while flipping in the air, and in one swift movement sent the rocket straight for the robot, blowing it up into hundreds of pieces.   
It was at about this time that Rouge landed the escape pod into Station Square. The doorway opened and Chaos rushed out to destroy as much of Robotnik's machines as possible.  
"His anger has reached a terrible point," Tikal told Knuckles and Rouge as they walked out the escape pod. "Chaos does not want Robotnik or his machines to threaten the Master Emerald ever again."  
"Well hopefully he can help stop this attack before the city's destroyed," Knuckles said before gliding off to aid Station Square. Knuckles followed the rushing Chaos to see what his next move was. One of Eggman's Destruction-series robots headed for Chaos, but the machine was destroyed before it could make any kind of attack on the water-creature. Seeing this, Knuckles decided to head for some of the other massive robots.  
Sonic was facing another Destruction-series robot. It was a huge humanoid machine covered with sharp blades. There was no way for Sonic to attack it without beating himself up. Tails, having just taken out another deadly machine, flew his plane in to see Sonic's dilemma.   
"I got your back, Sonic!" Tails yelled before firing off the robot's many spikes. Sonic took the opportunity to spin dash into the machine, but while in mid-air the robot grabbed Sonic with its mighty hands. At this moment a group of GUN fighter jets came by and blasted off the robot's arm. Sonic jumped from the loosed hand onto Tails' passing plane. The GUN jets finished off the robot as Tails flew Sonic and Amy away from the explosion.  
"Nice catch, Tails," Sonic said. "Hey, take me to that robot over there," Sonic added, pointing to an unopposed machine destroying a building. Tails flew Sonic to the large, dragon-like machine. Sonic jumped from the plane and swiftly spin dashed straight down the robot's head and through its body, destroying it.  
"This is only getting easier," Sonic thought, quickly looking around. GUN jets continued to destroy airborne Destruction-series robots, and a series of tanks were now taking on the gigantic machines on the ground. Sonic looked around a bit more, to see none other than Chaos beating through several Destruction-series robots with ease. Though a big surprise to see him back, it was a relief to see he was fighting Robotnik's machines, and doing extremely well too. The robots' weapons had little effect on Chaos, giving him little resistance from his deadly attacks. Sonic also saw that Knuckles and Rouge were now taking down some of the robots as well, aiding in the defense of Station Square.   
The main problem still remained however. Eggman's flying fortress was destroying building after building on its own, with no opposition. Everyone was busy with the many Destruction-series robots at the moment.   
"Gotta put a stop to Eggman once and for all," Sonic decided. But before he could find a way to reach the fortress, he was facing yet another massive machine.   
Eggman looked upon his many screens to see the attack was not going as well as he hoped. The main problem of the moment was Chaos, who was showing no sign of stopping his slaughtering of Eggman's massive machines.  
"I had anticipated meeting you again, though I certainly didn't think it would be now, or under these circumstances," Eggman muttered before pressing a series of buttons. Chaos instantly vanished from the battlefield. He had been teleported into a machine Eggman created to mimic the Master Emerald's capabilities to keep Chaos imprisoned.  
"I'll be using you later," Eggman grinned before turning back to his many screens, showing the situation of his attack. "Soon I will have Station Square in rubble, and all the world shall fear me!"  


Things took a turn for the worse. A couple Destruction-series machines took on the Typhoon and got Tails to crash-land into the rubble below. The GUN fighters and tanks were slowly eliminated. Eggman's flying fortress hadn't received a scratch yet, and there were still several Destruction-series machines left. Perhaps worst of all, Chaos was nowhere to be found. Station Square was slowly being annihilated, ironically, because Chaos wasn't there. Knuckles glided over to Sonic, avoiding the gunfire of a Destruction-series robot.  
"Sonic! There's no way the city will make it without Chaos! I'm betting Eggman took him in that fortress of his!" Knuckles yelled.  
"If someone can get me to the fortress, I can do the rest!" Sonic replied. Suddenly a huge snake-like robot flew from the ground beneath Sonic and Knuckles, knocking them into the air tens of feet.   
"Where's Tails at?" Knuckles asked after getting back up and throwing a punch into the machine's side.  
"Can't find him, or Amy," Sonic replied, getting back up.  
"Maybe Rouge can fly you there," Knuckles said as the robotic snake's giant head striked, Knuckles jumping away just in time.  
"No time to find her. Gotta get to Eggman NOW!" Sonic yelled before spin dashing directly into the machine's mouth, going directly through its thin head. The machine was still active however, and continued to lunge for Sonic and Knuckles. Above in his fortress, Eggman saw that the two were defeating his robot, and decided to take action. Pressing some buttons, Eggman set the massive machine to explode, letting off a giant explosion. Knuckles was flung back from the detonation. Sonic was as well, being shot straight into the air hundreds of feet, and landing atop Eggman's flying fortress.  
"Well, that was quick enough I guess," Sonic groaned before finding his way inside the fortress. The metallic stairways were completely deserted, and there were only minimal guard robots in the hallways. Sonic plowed through these in a breeze, making his way directly for the bridge of the ship, where he'd find Eggman.  
"Hey, Sonic!" cried a voice from a connecting hallway. It was Tails, and with him was Amy.  
"What's the scoop?" Sonic asked.  
"We think Eggman's got Chaos locked up somehow. I think I know where he's at," Tails explained.  
"There's a TON of robots there," Amy said.  
"I'm betting Eggman put most his guard robots to make sure Chaos isn't freed," Tails said. "I took out Eggman's security systems, so he doesn't know where we are. However, I'm going to have to get to the bridge to stop the fortress from attacking the city," he added.   
"Cool, we can handle it," Sonic said, and the three quickly made their way through the hallways. Sneaking around a corner, Sonic poked his head to see the guard robots protecting a hallway that lead to a specific door. Though they certainly weren't powerful, there were hundreds of them: small, hovering, light gray, round machines equipped with laser weaponry. Amy pulled out her hammer.  
"All right, we ambush them," Tails stated. Following a couple moments of silence, Tails yelled, "Now!" And with that, the three charged in. Sonic spin dashed through tens of robots instantly, blowing metallic pieces behind him. Robots fired again and again at Sonic, but they weren't fast enough to get him before being destroyed. Amy deflected laser blasts with her hammer, often destroying a different guard robot with each shot. And at the same time, Tails was knocking away robots with his various tail attacks. The hallway they fought in was covered with disassembled metallic pieces very quickly, and they were soon rid of all the guard robots.   
"That's really getting old," Sonic muttered as Tails got the doorway opened. Inside was an emerald-shaped metallic device in the center of the room, where Chaos was currently held.   
"Theoretically you should be able to just destroy the device to free Chaos," Tails said, and with that Sonic spin dashed directly through the machine, shattering it to pieces. What resided in the device's place was Chaos, now in his normal form once again. Chaos let out a roar before sliding out a ventilation shaft as a large drop of liquid, quickly leaving the fortress.  
"He should be able to handle the rest of those big robots out there," Sonic said.  
"Think Station Square will be okay?" Amy questioned.  
"With the threat of those robots gone, we just need to get rid of this flying fortress," Tails replied.  
"Then let's hurry to the bridge. I'd hate to have Eggman escape again," Sonic added before running off. Tails and Amy followed quickly behind and they made it to the bridge as fast as they could. Inside was Eggman in his chair, fuming. The doorway opened and in came Sonic, Tails, and Amy.  
"I was hoping you'd come here, Sonic. Just as I thought you would," Eggman growled.  
"Aah, poor Eggman failed to take over Station Square again? You're not mad, are you?" Sonic mocked.  
"This device," Eggman said, grabbing a small square device and showing it clearly, continued, "will destroy all non-human life in this room instantly."  
"Then we'll have to confiscate it," a voice behind Eggman said. A gunshot went off, and the device Eggman held blew from his hand, destroyed. Two men in GUN uniforms walked into the room from behind Eggman and they grabbed Eggman's arms.  
"You'll be lucky to get life imprisonment, buster," one said before taking out a communications device. Eggman squirmed to escape the two, but the other officer swiftly handcuffed the scientist.   
"Mr. Prower?" the one that handcuffed Eggman said, while the other called in for a chopper.  
"Need me to take control of the ship?" Tails asked.  
"If you please," the officer replied. Tails hopped over to the main console and furiously began pressing buttons. The fortress was headed straight for the center of a series of 100-story buildings. Everyone in the bridge held their breaths as the main viewing screen showed them approaching the buildings at a frightening speed.  
"Come on Tails, you can do it in time!" Amy encouraged to break the silence. Just afterwards, tens of electronic beeps sounded off as the fortress continued to near the tall buildings.   
"Come on!!" Tails yelled as he pressed another series of buttons. Instantly the massive fortress began pulling up. Everyone hung on as the giant ship began shaking violently, still appearing to head into the buildings. Sonic gritted his teeth and Amy gasped. They scraped across the top of the front building and only barely escaped a dead-on collision. Once above the buildings, Tails and everyone in the bridge gave a sigh of relief.   
"Good work Mr. Prower. We'll take care of Robotnik from here," one of the GUN officers said as they left the bridge and took Eggman down the hallway to an exit where a helicopter was now waiting for them.   
"Well, that's that for old Eggman. Awesome job, Tails. Knew I could count on ya," Sonic gave Tails a thumbs-up.  
"Heh, thanks Sonic. Now, I can send this fortress to crash-land into the ocean and explode outside the city," Tails said.  
"This is great everything worked out after all," Amy grinned.  
"Yeah, according to this screen, it looks like Chaos has taken out the rest of those huge robots," Tails pointed out.  
"Cool, Station Square's pretty much okay then. Most the city's still standing, at least," Sonic said. "With Eggman behind bars, maybe I could get a real break now. In fact, looks like everything's over for now."  


The three left the fortress before it was destroyed in its crash landing into the ocean, and were safe resting in front of the city's train station. Sonic shut his eyes so he could relax a moment and think.  
"I wonder just what Shadow's doing now..." Sonic thought. He realized he had a lot to tell to Tails and Amy about meeting Shadow again. They didn't even know he was alive... again.  
"Sonic, are you awake?" someone asked. Sonic opened his eyes. It was Tikal standing in front of him.  
"Wha? Hey, you're out of the Master Emerald too?" Sonic asked.  
"Chaos has been returned to the Master Emerald, but I am needed outside of it for the moment. Here," Tikal said, handing Sonic a blue Chaos Emerald.  
"Whoa, what's this for?" Sonic asked as Tails and Amy watched, intrigued.  
"You are needed upon the new moon, where the strings have been pulled," Tikal explained before vanishing. Sonic sat there for a minute, thinking, and looking at the Chaos Emerald.  
Sonic then said aloud, "Strings being pulled... New moon? Well that can only be..."  



	5. ARK

Chapter Five: ARK  


"I need answers, Esimed. I need to know who you are. I need to know who your master is, exactly," Shadow stated. The robotic hallway was silent for a minute.  
Esimed broke the silence, "Very well. I hope you are ready for the unexpected." A soft gray light appeared a few feet in front of Shadow. Shadow watched as the light quickly formed the figure of a hedgehog, and from the light Esimed emerged, taking a few steps towards Shadow. He was a gray hedgehog with spikes just like Shadow's spikes. He had patches of silver fur in a manner similar to Shadow's patches of red. His white eyes were unseeable save for their black outlines.   
"You're... just like me," Shadow said.  
"I am more than you, Shadow. You are the lesser being of Project: Shadow now. I am the most powerful version of 'The Ultimate Life-form.' I have been created to bring about the demise of this world called Earth, hence the name given to me by my master," Esimed explained.  
"Then... you're my..." Shadow began, shocked at this piece of information.  
"You are my brother. The time has come, Shadow. My master's plans have changed. We can no longer use the beings of Earth to carry out the plans. Together, we have the power to destroy it ourselves, through the marvelous technology of our home - ARK," Esimed continued.  
"Destroy the Earth? I will not aide you in any way to do so. I would be breaking my promise to Maria, and I will NEVER deny fulfilling her wishes," Shadow replied.  
"And I the same for my own master," Esimed said quickly. After a pause he continued, "Did you know... it was my master who kept bringing you back to life?"  
"Your master?" Shadow questioned. "Bringing me back to life?" he added.  
"Well, not exactly bringing you back to life, since you were never actually dead. Come here," Esimed motioned before walking down the hallway. Shadow followed closely behind and the two hedgehogs arrived in a large room with a dozen long glass cylinders. Esimed pointed at one of the cylinders and the computer system that connected to it.  
"See this? This is your recovery system. Yet another of the great Gerald Robotnik's creations. This was also a creation within Project: Shadow. When the project first began, the doctor was reluctant to lead it. A governmental organization known as GUN funded the project - a project for Gerald and his team of scientists. This project's main goal was based upon inmortalilty. More specifically, finding a way to bring to anyone the gift of inmortality.   
"Well, Gerald thought such an objective was not admirable, but that changed when Gerald's granddaughter became sick of an incurable disease known as NIDS, and was bound to die in the not-too-distant future. That made Project: Shadow much more personal to him, and he never stopped working on it. He rarely slept or ate. His granddaughter meant everything to him. He couldn't stand the thought of losing her. So, after a few months the prototype to 'The Ultimate Life-form' dubbed 'The Biolizard' was finished. The creature had immense powers but was not as immortal as GUN had hoped.   
"Eventually the entire project was shut down by GUN, but Gerald had other plans. Within a week ARK was evacuated entirely except for Gerald and his granddaughter. By the end of that week Gerald had set everything up. The new version of 'The Ultimate Life-form' was complete and designed to carry out his plans for the world. This of course, was yourself, Shadow. Unfortunately, he was unable to complete the recovery system you see here, but he had several other secret undertakings ready for operation. So you and Gerald's granddaughter headed for the escape pod Gerald left for you two, but Maria is shot down by a GUN troop Gerald had not seen. Meanwhile, Gerald is captured by another GUN troop that stormed into the ARK. He is taken to Prison Island to aide GUN in Project: Shadow, and you are captured. As Gerald was forced to work for GUN, he set out to have revenge upon GUN and the world for the death of his granddaughter. Several years pass and he too was executed.   
"But not even the grave halted his works. Many years later, Gerald's own grandson Ivo Robotnik is used to continue his plans. Through a diary, Ivo finds you deep within Prison Island. Your mind had been designed to carry out Gerald's revenge. Ivo finds all seven Chaos Emeralds as planned, and the Eclipse Cannon is set to destroy the Earth. After that failed, the ARK was triggered to crash into the planet and bring Earth's destruction. The Biolizard was also released to ensure that the plan would not fail. But because of your foolishness, it did. For some reason, you decided to NOT carry out the doctor's plans, and sacrificed yourself to save the Earth. Answer me this, Shadow. Why?" Esimed stated.  
"Why? Because I was fulfilling my promise to Maria. I'm sorry Esimed, but I do believe you are aiding the wrong person. Gerald Robotnik became a madman after Maria's death," Shadow said. Esimed was silent for a moment, as if he was deep in thought.  
"Follow me. You will need to see this," Esimed said before walking out the room and down another hallway. Shadow followed him and the two reached a small room. It was a room full of computers, screens dotted with information, and panels with many flat buttons. It was a bright room, and in the center stood a tall metallic chair, the back of it facing the two hedgehogs.  
"Hello, Shadow," stated a light, cheery voice. Shadow recognized the sweet voice at once as the chair began to turn around so the owner of the voice could face them.   
"Maria?" Shadow broke out, astonished to see her sitting a few feet in front of him, alive and well. It really did look like Maria, but was it possible?   
"Shadow... it is so good to see you again," Maria said with a bright glow about her cheerful face. It was Maria, without a doubt! She was just how Shadow remembered her. However, instead of the normal clothes she used to wear she had on a blue ARK jumpsuit used by scientists 50 years ago.  
"Oh, Maria!" Shadow let out, tears running down his face as he ran up to her. The two embraced, both overjoyed to see each other again.   
"Oh, Maria," Shadow repeated, still crying, "This is a miracle! I never thought I'd see you again... Not a day has passed that I haven't thought of you!"  
"And I with you, Shadow," Maria replied. "But there hasn't been many days we have been alive these past 50 years, have there?" It was true, Shadow saw. It looked as if Maria hadn't aged a day. Esimed walked up to the two.   
"You see, Shadow, a few months ago, the Biolizard wasn't the only thing that was reactivated. The recovery system received the immense power it needed when the Biolizard was released. It was at that point fully operational. When Maria was shot 50 years ago, she didn't just lie there forever. The operational portion of the recovery system teleported her to one of these stasis tubes, away from GUN's clutches. And when the rest of the recovery system became operational a few months ago, she was brought to full health," Esimed explained. Shadow was still amazed at the fact that Maria was alive. The very idea was overwhelming, but there she sat with the same curious look on her face Shadow knew so well.  
Esimed began speaking once again. "When you fell to the Earth's atmosphere, Shadow, you were teleported to the ARK via the recovery system as well. You were quickly healed and sent back to the Earth to continue to carry out Gerald's wishes, which you didn't I note. And when you died again fighting Ivo Robotnik at Rendion, the recovery system teleported you from beneath the rubble and healed you once again, in the stasis tube I showed you." Shadow walked over to Esimed.  
"Speaking of which," Shadow began, "What are both you and Maria doing here on the ARK?" Shadow turned to Maria. "Maria, I must let you know this. That hedgehog has been causing destruction on the Earth recently. Many have died because of him."  
"Oh, I know that, Shadow," Maria replied with a smile, shocking Shadow once again.  
"Then... then why? What?" Shadow stared at Maria, then back at Esimed.   
"Maria is the one who created me, Shadow," Esimed stated plainly. "Maria is my master." Shadow couldn't believe what he was hearing.  
"No... Maria, you didn't really create that monster, did you?" Shadow asked, terrified at the thought.  
"I did indeed, Shadow. How is my grandfather's work to continue otherwise?" Maria asked earnestly.  
"But... but surely you don't condone his actions, do you??" Shadow questioned.  
"I am the one behind recent events, Shadow," Maria stated. "When the recovery system healed and awoke me a few months ago, I went through my grandfather's diary. He only wished to help the world, and in return for his genius, the world destroys everything of his. Destruction is all the world cares for, Shadow. They destroyed all he had worked so hard for tens of years. They had years of painstaking research destroyed. Everything Gerald cared for was destroyed. When he heard that I had been shot, he thought I was killed. He didn't believe his recovery system would have worked yet. He thought I too was destroyed, and he had cared so much about me. He didn't sleep or eat for days when my condition weakened. He was the most determined being there ever was. And in his mind, I too was destroyed by the world. You too, what he had worked so hard on in that last urgent week, was taken by the world to never be heard from again - destroyed. And in the end, even Gerald himself was destroyed.  
"The world only wants destruction, Shadow. So we three will give it to them," Maria concluded. Shadow couldn't believe it. He could only stare in disbelief. The smile on Maria's face was not a smile of joy or happiness. Esimed broke the deafening silence.  
"We had wanted Gerald's only other living relative, Ivo, to join us as well. But being a man of Earth, we could only use him. And even then he failed us. We gave him the technology to create many massive robots and three flying fortresses in a short period of time. We gave him the chance to aide us in the destruction of the world, and he blew it. And then there's Sonic the Hedgehog. How annoying that disgrace of a hedgehog is. Unfortunately, our revenge to him for his past hinderances wasn't fulfilled to the extent we would have wished. The ARK's systems sent Ivo the stone tablets giving him the information to let out the God of Destruction, but Sonic had to stop the world from receiving its long-due destruction. Then Sonic had to stop the Eclipse Cannon from destroying the Earth. And now he and his friends had to mess things up once more, and he escaped us with minimal torment and devastation. Well, it's time for us to forget Ivo and Sonic. Time for us to destroy the entire planet and everyone on it. Time for you to return to us, Shadow, and fulfill destiny," Esimed said. Everything Shadow was hearing was just too much for him. How could Maria be the one behind all this? It was completely absurd to think that she, of all people, would be the one pulling the strings, and bringing about the destruction of the Earth.   
"And we had wanted Shadow to carry out Gerald's revenge," Maria said. "Why did you not do so, Shadow? What happened when you were released by my cousin?" she asked.  
"You... you just wanted me to make the inhabitants... of the Earth... you wanted me to give them a chance... to be happy," Shadow quivered, terribly distressed.  
"Yes, I did not know the nature of the world at that time. I'm surprised you remembered the times we spent together so well, Shadow. We weren't together very long," Maria said.  
"When Ivo Robotnik released me, I thought you had wanted revenge... and then I thought otherwise. But now, it seems that is true..." Shadow stated, shocked at his own words.  
"And it is time to do so. I have at last completed Gerald's device that will enable us to destroy the world. It requires immense amounts of power, but the combined energies within you and your brother are enough to set off the reaction," Maria explained.  
"No reason for us to wait any longer," Esimed stated. "Come, Shadow. No longer shall we live off the past. It is time for us to act."  
"I... I," Shadow tried to respond, still unable to comprehend all that was happening.   
"Shadow, did you know there are three types of beings?" Esimed asked. "There are those who make things happen like Maria and I, those who witness things happening like Ivo and Sonic, and those who wonder what happened like the rest of the world. The time has come, Shadow. Time for us to carry out what the great mind Gerald has set before us. Time for you to join your long-lost Maria, and your new-found brother. Time for you to become who you truly are." Shadow closed his eyes. It was all too much. There was now a being just like him - a brother. He was with Maria once more. He was with his family. He was home. He had a clear purpose.   
"This isn't right," Shadow cried. "This... this can't be..." Shadow looked into the white eyes of Esimed. They were hallow and cold. The blank, empty eyes shined dimly. Shadow turned to Maria, and looked into her eyes. They were the same eyes Shadow had seen 50 years ago. But the warmth was gone. The gleaming blue eyes he had once known were now fiery and filled with hatred. They were not the loving eyes Shadow now missed severely. Shadow made his decision. The Maria he knew was gone. Esimed was not his brother, but a stolen piece of himself. A piece that must be eliminated.  
"I will NOT help you destroy the Earth in any way!" Shadow exclaimed. Maria and Esimed instantly became displeased.  
"I didn't want it to be this way, Shadow," Maria stated. "But you leave me no choice. Knock him out, Esimed." Shadow backed away from the two as Esimed began walking towards him. Before Esimed could attack though, a flash of colorful light appeared in the other end of the room.   
"It's 'Chaos Control'..." Esimed said, amazed to see the array of lights appearing. From within the lights fell Sonic holding a blue Chaos Emerald.  
"You didn't think you'd get all the fun here, did you Shadow?" Sonic joked.  
"You!" Esimed pointed towards a confused Sonic.   
"What in the world are you?" Sonic asked.  
"This changes nothing!" Maria yelled before turning to Esimed. "Esimed, kill Sonic and bring Shadow to me," she ordered before teleporting herself from the room.  
"As you command," Esimed whispered.   
"Sonic, this is the holder of the voice that has spoken to us. Maria's the one giving him the orders. We have to stop them from destroying the Earth," Shadow quickly explained. Sonic didn't understand it all but got ready to take down Esimed anyways. Esimed jumped over to the chair Maria was at.   
"A simple hedgehog and the prototype of myself. Not very fair for the two of you I must admit," Esimed stated plainly. Shadow had already lunged for Esimed, but Esimed spinned the chair he stood on in an instant and knocked Shadow aside. At that very moment Sonic yelled 'Chaos Control,' but at the same time Esimed launched a burst of red energy around himself, throwing Sonic against the wall and making him drop the Chaos Emerald. Esimed and injured Shadow lunged for it at the same time. Shadow grabbed it and sliced the nearby Esimed across his right arm with the sharp end of the emerald. Esimed let out a burst of red energy and the wound was instantly healed. Sonic got up and spin dashed towards Esimed as Shadow used Chaos Control to appear behind Esimed. Esimed reached out and amazingly grabbed the time-warping Shadow's arm and swung him into Sonic. Esimed grabbed the Chaos Emerald as it was in mid-air and looked down upon the injured Sonic and unconscious Shadow. Esimed lifted up the Chaos Emerald, and it blew up into millions of minute pieces that burned to ash in mid-air.  
"Chaos Emeralds," Esimed laughed. "Such little power they possess, compared to the power I can capacitate." Sonic forced himself up to keep fighting. Esimed grinned, white eyes gleaming, and let out a massive burst of blinding red energy at Sonic. The burst both weakened Sonic and blew a hole in several walls behind him. The hole now led to outer space, which began sucking out everything within the room. Esimed, still grinning, pressed a button on his black shoes and they magnetized to the metallic floor. Esimed grabbed Shadow as he began to drag across the floor, and Sonic grabbed onto the side of the broken wall to keep himself from flying through the next few rooms and out into space.   
"Good-bye, Sonic the Hedgehog. Consider yourself lucky. You had a perfect life while you were alive, you don't have to witness the destruction of the planet, and now you get a quick death," Esimed said before teleporting away with Shadow. Sonic continued to hang on as it grew harder to do so. It suddenly began growing difficult to breathe. The air was running out, and he had little strength left within him.  
"If only I had that Chaos Emerald!" Sonic yelled within his head. "Could this really be the end? No way... not the end. I can't die... Not now. The world's counting on me. I can't let everyone down!" Sonic thought. "I can get out of this! I'm the world's fastest hedgehog... Time to take off!" Sonic let go of the wall and began running with all his might as he struggled for air. Immense pain filled Sonic- his legs felt as if they'd implode any second. As he ran as quickly as he could, space continued to pull him back. He wasn't even running in place. He was working his hardest and he was being pulled backwards still. A light appeared down the tunnel the hole of the room's walls created. It was a ball of light, and from it Tikal appeared. Sonic continued to run, trying to reach her at the end of the tunnel.  
Tikal spoke, "I know you can make it. Keep running, and you will escape the room. Stay on course. Keep going straight and you will make it." Sonic hung on to these words and continued to push himself forward. Drops of sweat flew from his head and out into space. He kept going. He hadn't failed before. He wasn't going to let himself fail this time. And he was going to live through it all. He kept running. Tikal grew closer. He had to keep going.   
"GET OUT NOW!" Sonic's mind screamed as Sonic mustered his last burst of energy to speed out of the airless rooms and reach the doorway out of them. The doorway closed behind him and Sonic gasped for air. He had made it through. It was perhaps the most strenuous minute of his life, but he had lived. Tikal appeared in front of Sonic as he sat down against the metallic wall, still breathing heavily. She held out the blue Chaos Emerald that Esimed had destroyed.  
"He did not have the power to end the existance of this Chaos Emerald," Tikal explained, handing it to Sonic, who wearily grabbed it. "You will need to hurry if the world is to live on, just as you and that Chaos Emerald have. I am afraid my time is over though. My spirit has been separated from the Master Emerald too long now. I must enter the next realm of my existence. I can not help you anymore, but you will find your strength within yourself. You have the will to survive, just like that Chaos Emerald. Power is enriched from the heart, you know," Tikal ended before vanishing in the blink of an eye. Sonic knew he had to get going. It was strenuous work, but he forced himself up and slowly trudged down the hallway. Sonic stopped himself and stared into the Chaos Emerald, seeing his own reflection in several angles.  
"I need to get to that gray hedgehog NOW," Sonic decided. He closed his eyes and focused his mind on reaching him.  
"Chaos Control," Sonic whispered before vanishing in a flash of light. He reappeared in a spacious room with a few computers and some devices Sonic did not recognize. Maria and Esimed were at the front of the room next to Shadow, who was connected to a flat bench.   
"You came back!" Esimed fumed, white eyes glaring. He was wearing some kind of green suit that several long tubes connected to. These tubes ran a few meters and were connected to a small container with a vibrating blue liquid inside. Wires from several computer systems attached to Esimed's suit and the container of liquid.  
"What... are you... doing to him?" Sonic let out between breaths, still weary from his running.  
"Shadow wouldn't cooperate, so we have to resort to using the liquid-based lifeform," Maria explained casually before turning to Esimed. "Don't worry, Esimed. He's in no state to fight."  
Shadow, who had gained consciousness since Sonic was gone, broke in, "I don't see how using Chaos will help you, Maria." Sonic looked back at the container, and realized that inside was no ordinary liquid - it really was Chaos.  
"But, how'd you get him? He was just down on Earth fighting Eggman," Sonic let out.  
"Esimed had the Master Emerald bugged so I could transport the liquid-based lifeform in the event that I would need it," Maria explained.  
"But why use Chaos? What are you doing to Esimed?" Shadow asked again.  
"Esimed alone does not have enough power to start up the Eyes. You and Esimed together may have been enough, but I wouldn't dare force you to do anything against your will, Shadow. So, I'm resorting to Chaosempiternity, the TRUE Ultimate Life-form. Using the best of both worlds: ancient mysticism and modern technology, I shall combine the two entities known as Esimed and Chaos. The new being will have the energy to power the Eyes and bring the world's destruction," Maria grinned at her own genius.  
"And now the time has come," she continued, "The Earth ends now," she added as she turned around to press the button to begin the procedure of combining Esimed and Chaos.  
"NOW SONIC!" Shadow yelled.   
"Chaos Control!" Sonic let out. But nothing happened. "Chaos Control!" he repeated. Maria turned around. She tilted her head and smirked slyly.  
"Only the negative power of the Chaos Emeralds can work in this room," Maria explained plainly, as if it was common knowledge.   
"Only one way to go then," Sonic muttered before spin-dashing straight for the container that held Chaos inside. Sonic bounced right off the yellow energy barrier that protected Chaos as Maria pressed the final button. It happened quickly. The container emptied instantly. Monitors displayed the statistics of the procedure. A series of computer noises filled the room. Shadow and an aching Sonic watched in amazement as liquid began forming around Esimed, creating a gooey shell around his entire body. The entire room grew silent. The chatter of the computers ceased. No sound escaped Sonic, Shadow, or Maria as they watched. No noise left Esimed as he appeared to be yelling in intense pain. The room began growing dimmer. The light of the room was being sucked away by the transforming being in the room. Esimed's eyes turned a ghastly yellow. The room began shaking madly for a moment and it all ended. The process was completed.  
Maria broke the terrible silence. "Chaosempiternity, you shall now rid the universe of that blue menace," she said while pointing towards Sonic, who was at this point forcing himself to stand back up. The Chaos-covered hedgehog stared its yellow eyes upon Sonic.  
"I'm going to do more than just kill you, Sonic," the being stated in a terrifying, growling voice within Sonic's mind. "You will not even be able to wish you were never alive." Chaosempiternity's arms stretched out several feet and connected to Sonic's eyes seamlessly. In a split-second intense energies were being poured straight into Sonic all at once. The pain was unbearable. Sonic couldn't think. He couldn't move. He could only be one with the suffering that was being poured straight through his mind and body. The feeling of everything bad that could ever happen was surging through Sonic all at once. Half a second passed and he wanted everything to end. In this moment of insanity, Sonic realized the status of time within the room. Ever since he had yelled "Chaos Control," the room itself had entered Chaos Control. Everyone and everything within the room was in a state of time that went at an incredibly slow speed. Sonic broke the Chaos Control and in an instant of fleeting madness flung the emerald directly for Chaosempiternity. The reaction was mayhem - the entire room burst in blinding light. When the light cleared Shadow and a fallen Sonic saw that both Chaosempiternity and Maria were gone. Shadow looked around as far as his head could allow, still being connected to the bench. Sonic was out cold. Shadow turned his head further, seeing the computer monitors. Someone had used the teleportation device during that instant the room was filled with the blinding light. He had to act quickly - it may already be too late. Shadow knew the Chaos Emerald couldn't be far from him.  
"Chaos Control!" he said. Shadow vanished from the bench in a flash of light, and reappeared in another room with the Chaos Emerald in his hand. Shadow looked behind him to see Maria was at a computer console. She was shocked to see him there, and quickly began pressing a series of buttons.   
"Chaos Con-"   
"Stop Shadow!" Maria yelled before Shadow could finish. "DON'T DO IT! You're too late anyways," she said, putting her right index finger directly above a small green button. "That one burst of energy Chaosempiternity released was enough to power all of ARK and everything within it for thousands of years to come. That includes the Eyes of ARK - a weapon of such incredible energy, that they will wipe out all life upon that miserable planet in one swift action. With the press of this little green button, the entire Earth will be eliminated... in the blink of an eye!" she quickly explained.   
"Don't do it, Maria... Please don't..." Shadow begged.  
"Ha! You're weaker than I thought, Shadow. Oh, and don't think that you can stop me with force. The instant you say 'Chaos Control' is the instant the planet is eliminated. Not even Chaos Control is fast enough to stop me from pressing down a millimeter," she grinned.  
"Then why don't you just press it?" Shadow sobbed at the sight of Maria's actions.  
"I will in due time," Maria muttered back.  
"You know this isn't the real you, Maria... I know you. I lived with you. You were everything to me! You were my example... You were loving and good-natured. You wouldn't harm anyone... You know this isn't who you really are, Maria. I know there's still a part of you that is curious about that planet below us. You don't want to destroy it. It's not too late to be yourself again," Shadow said.  
"How little you know, Shadow. You were given memories that were supposed to block out our past. You were supposed to continue Gerald's work for the world," Maria explained.  
"I passed those fake memories, Maria. I may not know all the details of my existence, but I know who I am. And I know who you are. And I know, you would never wish for the destruction of an entire world, or the destruction of a single living creature," Shadow replied. Maria looked like she was going to reply, but no words escaped her.  
"Maria, whatever it is you do, I want you to know I love you. You will always be family to me," Shadow stated. Maria looked intently at Shadow, then back at the button her finger rested above. She then turned her head to look out a window to see a portion of the Earth. She looked back at Shadow's saddened face.  
"I..." Maria began, but there was suddenly an explosion and the wall behind Maria blew open. Space was already sucking everything within the room out.  
"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled and time slowed down. A shocked Maria was in mid-air and slowly flying back into space. A wall of energy began forming in front of Maria as she was taken into space.  
"NO MARIA!" Shadow screamed as he ran for her. With the wall of energy in the way Shadow yelled "Chaos Control!" and swiped for Maria. She was out of range. Space was still sucking Shadow out farther - he knew it was too late... A tear left Shadow before he Chaos Controlled himself back within the ARK. Back in normal time, Shadow watched from behind the energy field.   
He had lost Maria again.  
He couldn't stop himself from crying. It was overwhelming. The picture of him and Maria together again rested within his mind. He had never thought it possible before this day, and now it was impossible once again. Shadow felt entirely empty inside as he continued to stare out into space - Maria long gone from his view. The door to the room opened as Shadow continued to stare out in silence.   
A few minutes later Shadow asked, "What happened?" He knew that Sonic was in the room, but he didn't turn to face him.   
"That hedgehog with Chaos combined with him... he was put into a room full of tubes. He was in stasis, and I couldn't let him come back. So... I did what I had to. Then, on the computer screens, I saw that you and Maria were in another room..." Sonic explained quietly. Silence followed for what seemed an eternity to Sonic.  
"And... you... did... what you... had... to," Shadow finished for Sonic between sobs, his voice crackling.  
"Yeah... I'm... I'm sorry Shadow," Sonic said sadly. He suddenly felt terrible for his decisions, but backed himself up, "But the world was counting on me. I couldn't let them destroy it." Shadow continued crying.  
"It's... it's okay... I... under... understand," Shadow sniffed. Shadow looked back at Sonic, tears still running down his cheeks. Shadow rolled the blue Chaos Emerald to Sonic.   
"Use it... to... go... to Earth...with... with your..." Shadow said before turning back away from Sonic, and began staring back into space again. "With your friends," Shadow ended. Sonic slowly picked up the emerald.  
"Are you... staying here?" Sonic asked.   
"For... now. I'll be... all... right," Shadow began before turning to Sonic and wailing in sadness. After a few minutes of this he regained his breath. "JUST GO!" he yelled, his face completely wet. Sonic stared sadly at Shadow, who began wailing again.  
"Chaos Control," Sonic sighed before vanishing. Shadow was completely alone, and his wailings grew louder, echoing through ARK's cold empty halls.   
In the midst of his anguish, Shadow let out, tears still streaming, "Don't... worry... Maria! I... I-I... I WILL... I WILL... be... with you... again... and nothing... NOTHING! ... Nothing will... stop... us. Not... even... SONIC! ... Sonic... I will... return... and... I'll... give... Earth... the chance... to be... happy... even me... and Maria... I... will return... to you... Sonic..."  


The End?  



End file.
